Solar powered home

[Ron Horn]

Anyone have any contacts or information?
We are thinking about having the panels put on the roof

[Chuck Fowler]

i'm guessing your thinking about a co-gen setup? check with your electric company first. they are going to have a wad of paperwork and specs, also might have recomendations about companies (or at least what to look for from one)

[Larry Andrews]

Take your time and learn as much as possible before buying. There's a lot of BS artists out there taking advantage of people, and the softy greenies don't put up much of a fight.

Getting a decent inverter that can be repaired if anything goes wrong is one of the more critical parts. Also, it's often necessary to have two - one of the pure-sine versions for sensitive electronics and a much bigger modified sine for the rest of the house.

I don't think you have to get the power company involved unless you want to push power back into the lines. If you simply disconnect from the grid, your meter stops turning and the power company simply can't bill you for that time. As long as you have some demand each month - which you most likely will - they shouldn't have a reason to interfere with your plans. Having said that, bureaucracy has a certain insidious tendency.

[Reijo Silvennoinen]

Yeah, the chances are you will have a bunch of red tape to deal with the DWP.

The company I used to work for installed some micro-turbines which generate power from gas which would otherwise be flared (oil well facility - many wells basically on a city block in LA City/County). The faciltiy runs 24/7 and there is (almost) no way that enough power would be generated such that the power meters would be turning in reverse. I'm not an electrical guy but I heard that the conversations went on for months on end! It was pretty complicated.

I would venture to guess you would face the same thing. Basically the DWP is paranoid (and probably correctly so) about anyone connecting to the grid and providing power. What if their people are working on some lines in the area, turn off the power.....and then their people get electrocuted due to someone still generating power? What I'm saying is that there is some justification for their paranoia.

Basically anything you install that is connected to the grid, you will need an electrical permit for and once you say you are generating power, all kinds of alarms go off. Be prepared to answer questions.....fill out forms.....etc. Call City Hall first - building permit department for information - check their web site(s) - lots of info there usually.

Ever look into geothermal power? The earth is real warm not too far down here is what I've heard/read. Don't know if that is possible for you or not.

Good luck with it......let us know what happens (inquiring minds want to know!).

Reijo

[Larry Andrews]

I think the reason they're paranoid is because they understand the effect of having power come back into the system that's out-of-phase with the existing signal.

Not pretty...and extremely hard to stop.

[David Avard]

Geothermal power is hard to do on a home scale, as the real heat is usually a ways down (unless you are in Iceland).

Ground-source heating and cooling is one of the best ways to heat/cool your house, along with hot water. Efficiency is usually 2-3 times conventional gas or electric. But, you either need ground-water access, a big pond, or a good size plot of land to use as a heat exchanger, so it doesn't work very well in the city (especially the LA area).

WInd energy is another good source of electricity.

Jay Leno has both (solar and wind) at his shop adjacent to the Burbank airport (see Popular Mechanics).

[Reijo Silvennoinen]

You're right Larry - being out of phase was one of the issues and there was some fancy equipment involved.....mind you these microturbines were more substantial than a few solar panels I suppose. But what do I know about electricity? I'm a civil engineer not an electrical engineer!

In any case, there are issues.

However, it's been done before though....so maybe it isn't quite as onerous as we are making it sound.

A great idea - look into it. If I was building my own house, I'd look into "stuff" like this.

Reijo

[Bob Beamesderfer]

If you have Edison, I'm pretty sure they have a set of standards that must be met. The law says they have to buy back excess power your system generates, but I don't think it says they have to let you feed power back into the grid.

[Will Kalman]

Read a few issues of Home Power magazine. They frequently have articles written by people who have done this. These articles almost always include electrical, usage and financial (ROI) data.

The equipment dealing with power-grid interfacing is readily available. It is designed to not put power to the grid when grid power is non-existent and it compensates for phasing, etc, too. The term for selling power back to the grid is "Net Metering".

The biggest hurdle is the bureaucratic one. I suggest looking for someone who has not oly the technical knowledge and good experience and referrals (important!), but the knowledge of all the various gov't programs, rebates, and tax credits. Your ROI will be much shorter if you can take advantage of all the programs out there. Expect a 7-10 year break-even on your investment.

Oh, and it must be said that the most cost-effective power is the power you don't waste. Don't bother generating power to run your A/C when you're not fully insulated, weather-stripped, multi-pane windowed, etc or running older, inefficient appliances.

[Jayson Woodruff]

'Full service' installers exist and are very common, and they take care of the paperwork with the power company and government (incentives). Of course they're a little more $$ tough.

There are electric codes in place for tying to the grid. I know them well because I had to write some of them for bigger systems. So any real installer will work to the codes an you'll have no 'interface issues'. Inverters are built smart to sync and match the grid. They also cut off if your neigborhood loses power (anti-islanding).

The power companies have made it fairly simple if your not producing more power than you consume net. You may need a different meter installed though to handle going back words AND maybe a smart meter that allows you to sell power to the system at a high price during peak demand when the sun is high and buy it at low a low price during low demand at night.

BTW, the power one house's solar panel produce will not be a fly's droppings onto the stability of the grids line. If safeties were over ridden and they system did get out of sync, it would just fry your system, not bother your neighbors.

Jay W

[Chuck Fowler]

DWP only disconnects for line work if the units is 10kw or larger and (usually) only if they're working on the underground.
they usually make it pretty easy for some one to install and feed back into the system. they count it as part of the "green power" they tell the city council they're working on. just find a contractor that's done this work before and you'll greatly minimize the headaches
good luck

[Ron Horn]

Thanks everyone Home Power magazine looks like a good resource to start.
I am looking for that recommendation to find a company that follows through.
The rebates are a big part of the project, and so I need someone that knows
all options and will help to make sure the paperwork is correct.